Richmond

I've searched the forums to no avail and was looking for some advice from more seasoned car buyers. Up until this point, I have purchased all of my cars from individuals and have never made a dealership purchase. My wife wants a 2013 Pathfinder, so we're limited on options. I've gone to a couple of dealerships to look at vehicles, but the experience is always horrible. It's probably more my fault, than the dealers, because I go in with my gloves on and already up before someone even says "Hi". It always seems like they want my name, phone number, email address, date of birth and social security number before they even know what kind of car I want to buy. They also want to "try" and get me approved, before they even ask how I intend to buy the car. The last couple of trips in, I've also ended up with salesmen that are new to the industry or company and know less about the cars than I do.

On to the question(s). What is the easiest way to avoid haggling? The last thing I want to do is have a salesman "Go talk to their manager" 3 different times because they can't negotiate. Why doesn't the manager just come out in the first place? Everyone always offers special financing pricing, etc, etc. But we're paying cash. Is there a reasonable way to avoid the dealership, salesman and overall experience and still get a fair price for a brand new car? If there isn't someone needs to create it. I would buy from CARAmazon.com all day, rather than going to deal with a car salesman (at least the ones I've encountered on my very few dealership trips).

idriveahonda

Oftentimes, paying cash is not always a good thing. The dealers and the finance company look forward to the extra money from financing.

In short, find the car you want. Then, when you get to the point just politely say "I would like to speak to the Sales Manager directly in regards to this car and the means of purchase."

If the salesman won't allow it, then just tell him "I would like to talk to the Sales Manager, or I'm leaving right now." Make sure they know it's not something they are faulting in, you would just like to skip the middleman.

Yardjass

Honestly, if you don't want to haggle, buy a scion. Otherwise you're going to be ripped off. You have to go in there acting like you're just looking, and willing to walk out the door at any time (or at least appear that way to the salesman). If they have a "locality adjustment", tell them that's bullshit. They will remove it and if they don't, leave. I saved like 4 grand by refusing to pay that on my car. Look up what the factory invoice is on the car so you know what the dealer is paying. You can use this to your advantage. Another important thing: you are paying cash, which is good. They get manufacturer incentives on how many cars they sell every year. You can offer them under msrp in cash. If you're bold enough, offer them invoice. A cash sale to them is a quick, easy sale. No financing or other bullshit to worry about. Just a vehicle moved and cash in hand. Even if they don't make much (or any) profit, they are usually happy to add another sale to their year.

That's pretty much it. You can do other things like buy old body styles at the end of the year. GM Sierras are all new for 2014 and the old ones are going for mid to low 20's right now. I don't know where the pathfinder is in its life cycle but it is worth looking into.

Bottom line is you are paying cash, which means you have all the power in this situation. Don't fuck it up by caving to their demands or not wanting to haggle. You can save yourself a lot of money but you have to be willing to fight for it. Yes it is sort of stupid but the alternative is refusing to play ball and costing yourself thousands more.

99formula

Look at their website and find the one you want. Show up and tell them you will pay $XX,XXX out the door. If they start bullshitting around, give them your number, tell them to call when they are willing to sell for your offer and leave.

As long as the offer is reasonable they will sell it on the spot or call you back almost immediately to tell you to come pick it up.

RandomTask

You a member of USAA? A lot of dealerships provide the 'rock bottom' prices to USAA on vehicles in their lot (move inventory) so you don't have to do any sort of haggling. Example of this was when I was purchasing my Cruze, the sticker price was $19,900. I had a USAA price for $17,400. I wanted to see if that was the rock bottom price or if I could do any better so I asked the salesman the absolute lowest price I could get out the door. They came back and said "The absolute lowest we could do would be $19,200." I again asked if they could do any better, he said he was pretty sure no but would ask his manager again. He again came back and said "Yeah, 19,200 is the absolute lowest we could sell the car for; we'd be losing money for anything lower." I pulled out the printout and the face was pretty funny, just a "Fuuuu".

Whatever you do, don't get trapped into the "We can get you this low of a payment" scheme; Look at how much you're paying for the vehicle and the interest rate + any fee's. If you have good credit, get your financing setup before hand. If you don't, it might be beneficial to work with the dealership as they have a bunch of financial institutions they can choose from and get you a low rate. Lastly, if you don't feel comfortable, at any point, feel free to walk. Everything is negotiable even if they say its not "Oh, the dealership fee is non-negotiable" Oh really? Fine then, later! I promise they'd stop you before you get out the door or be calling you the next day.

DOOM

This!!

My experience in buying a new cars is this, find their online quote and print it out and go there on a sunday and really inspect the vehicle.

Go there on a Monday and explain to them you want to test drive it and make a decision, later. Id get pre qualified before I even walked in the door.

Honestly, id never pay cash for a vehicle unless I planned on keeping it 5+ years. (new). Used in great shape, with maintenance records with cash. YES!

Id rather have a really low payment on something sensible, money still in the bank, not in the driveway.

I'm just cheap and pay cash for my used cars, im just frugal as fuck anyways...so don't mind me

Fried_Chicken

I work for a dealership and I can tell you that sometimes there are incentives for financing with a dealership's bank. If you carry the requisite credit score (usually 680+) you'll qualify. If you can afford to pay in cash, take the incentives and finance the vehicle, THEN pay the vehicle off. You'll end up paying less in cash than you originally anticipated.

Also, be wary of Internet prices on new vehicles; often you'll find that the dealership has subtracted all available incentives and rebates from the purchase price REGARDLESS of whether or not you qualify for them. If you're military, look up the USAA price of the vehicle you're interested in. Moral of the story: paying in cash is fantastic if you can foot it but it isn't always the best option.

92_SR20

Go to Carmax, good prices and it's a low pressure visit. I've been to a few dealerships over the years and Carmax was definitely my best buying experience. My last two cars came from there, I'd REALLY recommend you go to the closest one and just get a feel for it.

For reference ( using my zipcode ), here are a list of Pathfinders in the NoVA area.

xdreamxz

alot of good info in here. I actually have a similar question about "mom & pop" dealers...

i have a budget of about 2k to buy cash and i'll go up to 4-5k financing, but what i want to know is what would be a better choice between the two and what i should look for with local dealers specifically when getting quoted or hagled..

this would be my 1st car purchase so i'm not sure of my credit. (buying used)

1uzme

LoL